INDIANAPOLIS – Former Golden Bear and Team USA captain Ryan Murphy punched his ticket to the Paris Olympic Games, winning the 100-meter backstroke on Monday evening at the 2024 United States Olympic Trials at Lucas Oil Stadium.
 
The World Champion will make his third Olympic Games appearance later this summer. The 2016 gold medal winner took first in Monday's tightly contested finals with a time of 52.22. It is a season-best time for Murphy and the fastest time turned in by anyone this year.
 
Hunter Armstrong, a former member of Cal's postgrad training group, finished in second and likely clinched an appearance in the Paris Games with a time of 52.72. Armstrong was seeded fourth in the finals after a heroic comeback in the semifinals on Sunday night that saw him sitting in eighth at the turn after slipping to open the race. Tonight, he was .08 behind Murphy at the turn and held off third-place finisher Jack Aikens by two-hundredths of a second.
 
In the finals of the 200 freestyle, Brooks Curry, a current member of Cal's postgraduate training group, finished in fifth with a time of 1:45.89 – a new personal best in the event, surpassing his previous best time of 1:46.39 set at the 2023 Phillips 66 National Championships. Curry will likely be headed to Paris as a member of the relay team.
 
In the semifinals of the women's 100 backstroke, rising fifth-year student Isabelle Stadden just missed out on a spot in the finals with a ninth-place finish (59.62). Stadden will be back in the pool Thursday for the prelims of the 200 backstroke.

Tuesday will be another busy day for Cal. Six Bears are expected to compete in the prelims in three events. Jack Alexy takes to the pool in the 100 free while Gabriel Jett and Tyler Kopp will compete in the 200 butterfly. Sean Swift and Hank Rivers will compete in the 200 breaststroke. On the women's side, Abbey Weitzeil begins her quest for a second straight Olympic appearance in the 200 free.